The Fifth Branch of the Evin Prosecutor’s Office has charged Pakhshan Azizi, a Kurdish activist and former political prisoner, with “membership of the country’s opposition groups” after she spent six months in detention.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that after Azizi’s interrogation in recent weeks, the case has been transferred to Branch 26 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran, headed by Judge Iman Afshari, following the formal charge.
Azizi, from Mahabad, West Azerbaijan Province, was arrested in Tehran on 4 August along with several members of her family by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence.
While the detained family members were released after a few days of interrogation, Azizi was taken to Ward 209 of Evin Prison.
On 11 December 2023, at the end of her interrogation in Ward 209 of Evin Prison, she was transferred to the women’s ward of Evin Prison.
Azizi went on a hunger strike for several days in protest against the torture and pressure from her interrogators to accept the charges against her and make televised confessions.
She denied all the charges, saying she had only worked as a social worker and translator in conflict zones for several years.
Azizi, a social work graduate from Mahabad, West Azerbaijan Province, was first arrested by security forces on 16 November 2009 during a gathering of Kurdish students at Tehran University to protest against politically motivated executions in Kurdistan, and was released on bail after four months.
She had been living in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq for the past few years.
